Blood and Ashes
by doggieearlover
Summary: DarkFic. InuYasha and Miroku return from a routine youkai extermination to find that Kagome and Rin have been taken. First Place IYCaptions community at LJ for "Ashes to Ashes" prompt.


Disclaimers: I do not own InuYasha or any of the manga/anime characters. They belong to the wonderful genius Rumiko Takahashi.

This was written for and **FIRST PLACE** at the **IY Captions community** at Live Journal. The requirement was that it be a oneshot (250 words or more), and the prompt was "**Ashes to Ashes**" by Jojo-kun which you can see at **jojo-kun(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/Ashes-to-Ashes-46762926**. Please look at the prompt and understand that this is a dark!fic written for dark!art.

**Warning**: This is a dark!fic - it is NOT my usual fluffy work. It is meant to be descriptive of the artwork that was the prompt. It is rated M for graphic violence and gore.

And thanks so much to inufan625 for beta'ing once again!

**Blood and Ashes**

The darkening sky was filled with oranges and reds as an angry hanyou and wary monk approached their quarry. The camp was accentuated by the small village on the crest above it, parts of which were in flames that matched the hues of the setting sun.

InuYasha had insisted that Miroku stay behind him when they first approached. The shouts and taunts of the bandits rang across the normally quiet valley as they killed men and captured women and children to sell into slavery. The monk and hanyou had been tracking them for two days, determined to get their own back. When the bandits had passed near their village, they found Rin and Kagome out where they were gathering herbs. The village itself was larger than they liked to prey upon, so they'd grabbed the two and slunk away. When InuYasha and Miroku returned from the youkai extermination they had been called away to, the hanyou was beside himself with rage to learn that Kagome was missing along with the young apprentice.

They'd barely stopped to eat and relieve themselves as they relentlessly followed after the outlaws that had kidnapped the hanyou's wife and Rin. However, when they finally caught up with where they'd made camp, Miroku was able to get InuYasha to stop before just charging in. It appeared that only a couple of guards were left with the women and children while the rest of the men had gone into the nearby town to pillage and burn. It took them only a few short minutes to incapacitate the two thugs and untie everyone who was being held captive.

InuYasha was livid to find that Kagome was nowhere to be found. One of the liberated women told him that the miko had been taken with them, for what purpose they did not know. InuYasha told Miroku to stay with the captives and to lead them out of there while he went after his wife. Realizing that arguing was pointless and only would waste valuable time, the monk agreed and immediately set about his task to usher their new charges away safely. However, before they left he sent everything that the bandits had used up in flames. If the outlaws escaped, they would have to start all over again. He would not make it easy for them by leaving their belongings untouched.

***

The hanyou practically flew up the mountain towards the village where the laughter and shouts of the men could be heard. He stopped and was filled with fury at the sight of his wife, stripped naked and tied to a post by her wrists, being flogged by one man as the rest of bandits drank sake.

"Kagome!" he shouted as he ran headlong into the crowd, not caring how many men there were. He was almost to her when he felt something sharp pierce his side as a loud bang practically deafened him. He fell to his knees, and then something hard collided with his head. There was more laughter and everything went black.

He came to in a hut that was burning around him. The last thing he remembered was a flaming timber falling on him.

***

"InuYasha," Kagome whispered. She had been severely beaten to the point that she was bleeding and bruised all over. Her eyes were nearly swollen shut so all she could see was the dark image of her husband with the flames illuminating the background, fuzzy though it was around the edges thanks to her blurred vision. His clothing was torn and burned to his elbows and knees, and his eyes were burning bright red. In his right hand he grasped the head of the man who had been beating her, his fingers wrapped around the bandit's long hair. From the lethal claws of his left dripped the blood of his victims. It was both the most beautiful and most terrifying sight she'd ever seen.

She never did understand exactly why they'd done what they'd done, but it had something to do with her being a priestess and wanting to "show" the people of this village what they were willing to do to anyone who got in their way or didn't comply. They thought using a miko would be perfect to make their point to terrify the villagers into submission. They'd started out with Kagome in her robes and then stripped her bare in front of them before starting their torture of her. The unexpected appearance of her hanyou husband had at least put a stop to it temporarily. They'd shot him, hit him in the head, taken his sword away, and then dragged him to a hut which they'd set on fire. Once they had completed their task, they'd returned to her to have more "fun."

They didn't expect a snarling red-eyed devil to ascend from the depths of hell in vengeance. InuYasha had slaughtered them all in his youkai rage. He inflicted his worst punishment upon the man who had wielded the flogger. He didn't even flinch as he twisted the man's head clean off of his body, and then used the decapitated head like a weapon. Carrying it by the long, thick, dark hair, he'd swung it like a mace, clubbing them with the one hand while eviscerating them with the other. The area was littered with the bodies of the man's fallen comrades.

Kagome did her best to hold her chin up and keep her swollen eyelids cracked open. She didn't want her husband to think she was frightened of him, even in the state he was in. He raised the battered head like he intended to strike her but allowed it to fall from his grasp. She sagged and he reached forward to catch her before her weight was supported only by the ropes that bound her swollen, raw wrists to the post.

"InuYasha, you came," she whispered as he cut her down with one swipe of his deadly claws. "I knew you would."

He cradled her against his chest and growled at a woman who cautiously approached them.

"Please, take this blanket," she said as she held it out tentatively towards them. "Thank you for saving us. It could have been so much worse."

"Thanks," Kagome mumbled, her lips also swollen, split and bleeding. "Wait, can you get his sword? He needs to have it back. It's over there." The miko pointed to where Tessaiga had been tossed.

The woman nodded and silently retrieved the katana as requested.

Kagome took it from her and said urgently to InuYasha, his eyes now flickering between red and gold and eerily resembling the fires burning around them, "Please, get me out of here."

The flames they'd left behind were finally starting to die down when he stopped at a stream not too far away. He waded into it with Kagome in his arms after she had dropped the blanket and Tessaiga on the grass.

He found a smooth flat point where the water wasn't too fast and helped her stand before he started to aid her wash the blood and grime away. By the time all of the blood was washed away from each of them, the red had faded from his eyes as well.

***

They would never speak of that night again, even as Kagome slowly recovered once they'd reached their home. She was afraid there would be trouble when Sesshomaru suddenly appeared, but he took one look at her battered appearance and left without saying a word. If he had entertained any thoughts of blaming her for Rin's abduction, apparently he had changed his mind. The child had been returned home only hungry and dirty along with some rope burns from having been tied up. Other than that, she was unscathed. Miroku had escorted her safely back to the village along with the others they had liberated. Some had chosen to stay since their own homes had been burned, while others wanted to return from whence they came.

InuYasha knew he should feel some guilt for having slaughtered the bandits in his bloodlust, but every time he looked at his mending wife any feelings of such were abated. The stories he'd heard some of the other women tell of the atrocities committed at their villages and to them confirmed that the bandits needed to be disposed of. As far as he was concerned, they had no one to blame but themselves. They had become part of the ashes they were so fond of creating and at the very least were in the lowest depths of hell where they belonged. Unlike the phoenix or even the hanyou they'd left in the flames as dead, they would not rise from the ashes again.


End file.
